JOHNNY BOND
Johnny Bond (born Cyrus Whitfield Bond; June 1, 1915 – June 12, 1978) was a popular American country music entertainer of the 1940s through the 1960s. (More from Wikipedia)
I think that I ordered Shut Downs and Hill Climbs on the strength of “Hot Rod Lincoln” that a school chum had told me about. In a sort of giddy deadpan manner, the song relates a race between two souped-up hot rods interspersed with hot guitar licks. This version, by Johnny Bond was a hit in 1960, but the song (and car songs in general) dates back a lot further than that.
The song was written and first recorded in 1955 by Charlie Ryan; he actually owned a “hot rod Lincoln” as described in the song: a shortened 1948 Lincoln chassis with a 12-cylinder engine that had the body of a 1930 Model A Ford. The Johnny Bond hit that I have talks about 8 cylinders rather than the 12 in the original song.
(December 2014)
